


I Take a Step Yourways

by laziestgirlintown



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 23:39:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7458148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laziestgirlintown/pseuds/laziestgirlintown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two of the worlds' most badass witches take an evening off being badasses to have tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Take a Step Yourways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spilled_notes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spilled_notes/gifts).



Headmistress Minerva McGonagall put the kettle on and sat back down in her favourite chair, opening a book and settling in to wait. There was a faint hum of rustling leaves coming from the labyrinth of bookshelves meandering away from where she sat.

  
The kettle was only just coming to a boil when Esmerelda Weatherwax walked out of the roomy fireplace of the headmistress’s office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She brought with her the scent and rustle of pine boughs from her cabin in a clearing in the mountain forests of Lancre. The timing had nothing, or very little, to do with magic. A witch always arrives precisely when she means to, and the moment when nearly boiling water is poured over tea leaves is a moment of significance.

  
McGonagall had asked her how she did it only once, pointing out that Apparation was impossible within Hogwarts. Esme had asked her what “apparition” was, and said “All I do is I take a step yourways. What, you want to tell me how you get to Lancre?”

Minerva didn’t exactly entirely know how she got to Lancre, and in this one case, she silenced that Ravenclaw side of her and favoured the Hufflepuff/Slytherin side that got her there. She got there. She did it well. It was, in the best likelihood, magic. She tucked that emotion away, and it kept working.

Back to the now, and steaming tea being poured into two deep cups.

Summer solstice was coming up in a few slow sunset hours. Granny Weatherwax sat down, back straight and pointy hat on, in a worn but stubbornly sturdy armchair a former headmaster had left behind. Scents of assam tea and bergamot filled the room, and … was that …

“Are those mint leaves, Minerva McGonagall?”

“Bergamot mint leaves actually, the better to lift the tea,” the Headmistress answered. “Pomona Sprout cultivated them. A very successful union.”

“You know I don’t hold with …”

“I know you like to be heard as to not. Would you like a slice of lemon in yours?”

“Yes.”

McGonagall put the teapot down and sat back down in her own chair. The light coming in from the windows was gold, heather, azure, There were bird sounds from outside but otherwise silence.

“All your students home for summer, then?”

“Nearly all. There’s seven who don’t have homes nor were invited to friends, but they’re spending tonight in Hagrid’s hut. He’s promised them a solstice feast. Which is to say one of his rarer friends or pets is dropping by and after riding or petting it they’ll have cake until they fall asleep. Do you have unicorns on the Discworld?”

Granny didn’t point out that seven was more than last year, since they both knew. “Not if I can help it,” she answered and sipped her tea.

 

One cunningly placed pane in a wrought-iron window lit up with the last minutes of the setting sun, changing from blossom pink to jade and lighting up the entire room, as it did only once a year.

“Show-off,” said Granny Weatherwax.

“That window’s older than both of us put together,” said Professor McGonagall. “Happy Summer Solstice, Esme.”

Granny kept looking at the window. “Happy Solstice. And so the days start getting shorter again.”

“The days are the same length, the sun just rises later and sets earlier.”

“Now you’re just being profound on purpose. Save the wisdom for your students.”

“An absentminded slip, apologies. Anyway, I prefer the autumn. Spring is a bit too silly and summer’s too easy.”

“Was that you out of the two of us who said that, Minerva?”

“Don’t underestimate me because I prefer to wear green over black.”

“Say, you haven’t been talking to that Vetinari boy, have you?

“Who?”

“Never mind. This tea is … actually rather acceptable.”

“Thank you.”

 

“Do you know, I’ve gotten myself some beehives, out on the school grounds.”

“Tried Borrowing them yet?” Granny Weatherwax asked, casually sipping her tea.

“Oh yes, thank you for teaching me that. That was like herding cats, or students. Whilst thinking in a hundred different places. Interesting.”

Esme gently put down her cup. “You got it right first time?” She looked up.

Minerva’s glittering eyes met hers. “Well. Second time.”

Esme shook her head, stood up, leaned down, and slowly kissed Minerva’s mouth. “I’ll stop teaching you things if you’re gonna be as good as me at them,” she muttered against her lips.

“How many tries did it take you?” Minerva asked softly, so Esme kissed her again. Once she stopped she sat down on her, leaning her back against Minerva’s chest, leaning her head next to hers but determinedly looking out into the deepening gloom of the room. They sat listening to the midsummer night’s hedgerow bustle coming from the grounds through two slightly open windows, and eventually McGonagall lifted her wand a fraction and murmured a spell, and a half-dozen lamps around the room glowed alight. When she lowered her arm she rested it around Esme’s waist. They shifted about a bit to find the optimal comfort level what with them both being a little too bony.

“Will you stay the night?” McGonagall asked as Granny opened her mouth to say she should be going. “I put the guest bed next to mine and aired the sheets out in the sun all day.”

Esme paused for only a moment or two before settling back down, and they sat silently again, the gloom growing a deep violet.

“What will you serve for breakfast?” she said eventually.

“As long as you ask the house elves, rather than order them, nearly anything.”

“Wild strawberries and tea?”

“It’s June, my dear. Yes.”

Esme Weatherwax closed her eyes and relaxed. Minerva McGonagall closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against hers.

**Author's Note:**

> There's very little written about this pairing as far as I can find, but check out Of Strange Magic and Human Minds in Cat Bodies and After the Battle by spilled_notes!


End file.
